Philippians
4.4: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

What a wonderful verse. And what a
delightful little chorus for children and adults both to sing. But do you
realize that many Christians who strive to obey this command to rejoice in the
Lord commit sin against God in their attempts? That’s right. Many Christians
sin against God when they do not rejoice in the Lord, but they also commit
great sin when they do attempt to rejoice in the Lord. The reason for this, of
course, is that many Christians are not truly born again. Come on, now. You
don’t think most people these days who claim to be born again really are saved,
do you? Do you honestly think that these 70% of all Americans who claim to be
saved, but who abort their unborn children, who divorce at a higher rate than the
general population, and who adulterate and fornicate, are really new creatures
in Christ, with old things passed away and all things become new?[1]

Oh, I know. You insist that no one can
tell whether or not someone is saved with any kind of certainty. However, there
are some very interesting people who would disagree with you. Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in the last century would
disagree with you. George Whitefield, that great evangelist used by God during
the First Great Awakening, would disagree with you. John and Charles Wesley
would both disagree with you. Jonathan Edwards, that great Puritan pastor,
theologian, and evangelist in New England in the 18th century, would
disagree with you. I could go on. More importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ would
disagree with you. The Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7.16,

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Then in Matthew 7.20 He repeated
Himself, saying,

“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them.”

And if you object, saying that the
Lord Jesus would know because He’s the Son of God, I would remind you that He
said “ye shall know them.”

Therefore, let us move beyond this
non-controversy that no one can know whether someone is saved or lost. Though
we cannot know with absolute certainty, we can be fairly sure in many cases
whether someone is truly saved or not. But my point is that, surely, most folks
these days who are claiming and professing to be saved simply cannot be.

Consider what the Lord Jesus Christ
said, in Matthew 7.13:

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for
wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”

and in Matthew 7.22-23,

22 Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and
in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity.

All this on the same occasion when He
uttered the words, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”[2]

Thus, there is a statistical
likelihood that any one of you who is a professing Christian is lost. Oh, the
average Christian claims to be a believer. He may even know lots of scripture. But
is there any fear of God in his soul? Is there any appreciation of God’s
majesty in his bosom? Is he anything other than merely religious? Does he
actually love God? Does he? Enough to humble himself? Enough to submit to
others?

You know what I think? I think it’s
likely that a professing believer is lost. I say this because most Christians
are lost. God deals with a faithful remnant, a minuscule minority. It was so in
Noah’s time. It was so in Abraham’s time. It was so in Elijah’s time. It was so
in Isaiah’s time, Isaiah 1.9,

“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very
small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been
like unto Gomorrah,”

and in Christianity’s early days, as
Paul informs us in Romans 11.5,

“Even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”

It has always been that way. If it is
true that God has always dealt with a remnant, that most who profess to be
believers are actually not believers at all, then someone who pretends to be
though actually is not a believer commits sin against God when he tries to
rejoice in obedience to this command that is given exclusively to saved church
members.

BECAUSE, FIRST, SUCH A ONE IS STRIVING
TO OBEY THIS COMMAND WITHOUT FIRST OBEYING THE GOSPEL

It’s like singing a gospel hymn when
you are lost. Imagine a man who is God’s enemy, a wicked sinner, standing up in
church and praising God. Singing words of praise to God with your mouth, while
shaking your fist at God in defiance in your heart. Such a fellow actually has
it backwards, just like the Roman Catholics who put works before faith, you are
putting a supposed good deed, rejoicing, before repentance and faith in Christ.
But it doesn’t work that way.

You see, a lost man’s righteousnesses
are as filthy rags to God.[3]
Nothing he can do is pleasing to God or commends himself in any way to God. What
he needs to do is what he has been told. And what he has been told to do, what
Paul informed the Athenians they were supposed to do, having never heard of
Jesus Christ before, is repent.[4]

My friend, God wants sinners to turn
away from their sins, to turn away from their present life of wickedness, to
turn away from the allurements and enticements of this world, and to turn away
now. And so long as a lost person tries to rejoice when he is lost, pretends
things are okay when he is actually Hell-bound, he is lumped together with all
the others who have not obeyed the gospel. Such a person is willfully ignoring
a command God has directed to him; to repent and trust Christ, all the while
striving to obey a command He has not directed to you. If that’s not the height
of arrogant rebellion, I don’t know what is.

ANOTHER WAY SUCH A PERSON SINS AGAINST
GOD WHEN HE TRIES TO REJOICE IS BY PRETENDING TO DISPLAY THE FRUIT OF THE
SPIRIT OF GOD APART FROM ACTUALLY BEING INDWELT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD

Of course, that makes one an impostor,
a fraud, and a counterfeit. Imagine how that must grieve the Spirit of God, who
we know from God’s Word is most sensitive to slights by the wicked? The Word of
God specifically tells us that the Spirit of God indwells believers. Further,
we are shown that those He indwells He influences, guides, sanctifies, gifts,
and transforms. And part of this sanctifying and transforming work has to do
with the generation of a spiritual personality, producing such things as love
and peace and joy. Then, along comes the unbeliever and joins in a mockery of
the Holy Spirit with others who pretend to be saved, with others who pretend to
be indwelt, with others who pretend to have personalities wonderfully
transformed by Him who is the Author of change in a Christian’s life, the
Spirit of God. Only, the pretender does it without Him, ignoring Him, demeaning
Him, and in effect ridiculing Him.

What the sinner is doing, of course,
is lying. He is deceiving others. And he does this because his heart is
deceitful above all things, Jeremiah 17.9. And what Jeremiah meant when He
wrote “above all things,” is that more than anything else your heart is
deceitful. It is the chief characteristic of your heart’s function to be
deceitful, to mislead, to misrepresent, to lead astray. And this is precisely
what is done when the unbeliever pretends to express joy by rejoicing. Like
salting a mine with small gold nuggets so unsuspecting people will think real
gold lies beneath, sinners salt their personalities with misrepresentations of
joy for the purpose of convincing others that the Holy Spirit of God resides
beneath the surface. Only He doesn’t. Those who feign happiness and rejoicing
are misleading. They are misrepresenting. They are running a spiritual scam, a
sham.

Does that not grieve the Spirit of
God? Does that not offend Him? Would He not withdraw and shrink away from
someone like that? And if He does withdraw and shrink away because of such
sinning, what chance does that fellow have of ever being saved? Cast off the
pretense. Abandon the sham. One should admit to the reality of spiritual
barrenness while there is still opportunity for the soul’s salvation.

A FINAL WAY SUCH A PERSON SINS AGAINST
GOD WHEN TRYING TO REJOICE WHILE LOST IS BY PRETENDING TO BE GOD’S ALLY WHEN IN
REALITY HE IS GOD’S ENEMY

Romans 5.10 clearly shows anyone who
is unsaved to be God’s enemy. Ephesians 2.2 describes the lost as children of
disobedience. Ephesians 2.3 describes them as children of wrath. So, what does
such a one hope to accomplish besides fooling a few of the people he knows by
pretending to be God’s ally when he is actually God’s enemy?

There was a time, when Paul was in
Philippi, when a damsel possessed with a spirit of divination followed Paul and
his coworkers and cried out, “These men are the servants of the most high God,
which show unto us the way of salvation.” Finally Paul, being grieved, turned
and cast out the demon, in part, because he refused to allow the girl to
posture herself as his friend while she was in actuality the opposite. Should
we think God is any less particular?

There is absolutely no way God is
pleased with or tolerant of a lost person in any way pretending to be on His
side concerning anything, much less something as high and as holy as
worshipping Him through rejoicing. My friend, all the lost do when they
rejoice, when they pretend to have joy unspeakable and full of glory, is store
up wrath for Judgment Day. You see, when someone pretends to rejoice and is not
actually saved he is doing a number of things wrong. According to Proverbs
6.16-19, he exhibits a lying tongue, he exhibits a heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, and he is a false witness that speaketh lies. Such things
the LORD hates. All of that while pretending
to be what he is not, a friend of God.

We could go on, but I believe my point
is made. When someone attempts to rejoice while lost he commits sin, wicked
sin, evil sin, damnable sin, punishable sin. Frequently he thinks it to be but
a light thing to pretend to be what he is not, but that’s only because he has a
lying spirit about him. And lies are of the devil, who is a liar from the
beginning and the father of lies.[5]

Rejoicing is the privilege of the
saved, and only the saved, who are indwelt by the Spirit of God and who have
joy. Don’t you do it. Don’t you try. The business you must be about is getting
saved. Concern yourself with your soul. Give yourself over to seeking the LORD while He may be found.[6]

You see, there is a Savior. His name
is Jesus, and He is the Christ. He is the Son of God. And He came and gave His
life a ransom for your sins, including this one that I’ve been preaching on. Would
you like to be forgiven your sins and to be cleansed from all unrighteousness? Jesus
Christ can do that. Would you like to be reconciled to God, from whom you are
now estranged by your sin? Jesus Christ can do that. Would you like the guilt
you so richly deserve to be removed? Jesus Christ can do that. Would you like
to be given reason for rejoicing? Jesus Christ can do that.

I conclude by observing that many who
are not Christians feel a sense of frustration when it comes to doing right,
only to find out that doing right for them is wrong. They feel like they are
between the Devil and the deep blue sea. They are caught between a rock and a
hard place. Please understand that is precisely the case. The unsaved are
trapped between the righteous and holy demands of God and His plan to visit
retributive judgment upon those who are not righteous and holy. There is no way
out other than repentance and faith in Christ. You cannot turn to the right
hand or to the left for deliverance, but only up with the look of faith to the
enthroned Savior at God’s right hand.

You truly are on the horns of a
dilemma. Remain as you are and you will perish. Try to deliver yourself and you
will perish. Try to do good as means of pleasing God and you will perish. Your
only recourse, the single and solitary option that is available to you is to
admit defeat and throw yourself upon Christ to forgive all your sins.[7]

[7] The sinner faces the dilemma of sinning against God
by rejoicing though he is lost, yet also sinning by refusing to sing songs of
worship, praise and adoration to God. The single remedy for his dilemma is to
turn to Christ in repentance and faith.

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